Crime

ATLANTA -- DeKalb and Fulton counties have been awarded grants for use by law enforcement agencies to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The grants awarded Tuesday are administrated by the U.S. Department of Justice and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Federal officials say DeKalb County will receive $496,793 and the Fulton County District Attorney's Office will receive $352,803. They say Atlanta continues to have a reputation as a center of child prostitution.

Twenty grants totaling $9.2 million are being awarded to agencies across the country.

FOREST PARK, Ga. -- The last two weeks have not been good for the BP gas station in the 5100 block of State Highway 85 in Clayton County.

According to store personnel, nine customers had their wallets, handbags and other possessions stolen from their cars over a 10-day period. At one point, there were eight robberies in eight straight days, all at pump six.

ATLANTA -- Police investigators have their hands full following a night of violence.

Shortly after midnight, an unidentified man was shot in the head at the intersection of Weyman Avenue SW and Ridge Avenue SW in South Atlanta.

Police Captain Van Hobbs said the man was leaning against a car, talking to the people inside, when another car crashed into the car's rear. Several men in the second car jumped out, shouting "Those are the guys we're looking for."

The men chased the victim into the woods, beat him and shot him in the head. Police are looking for the gunmen.

Hobbs said the victim was in serious but stable condition at a local hospital.

A while later, Atlanta Police were called to another shooting about a mile away on Cooper Street SW near Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard downtown. A 17-year-old boy said he was standing on the street when a gunman walked up and shot him in the buttocks.

UNION CITY, Ga. -- A Union City man has pleaded guilty to using fraudulent information while preparing tax returns.

Michael Thornton, 41, will be sentenced in September. If convicted, he could face three years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

According to information presented in court, Thornton prepared and filed fraudulent tax returns for numerous co-workers and associates while he worked at a collection agency. He allegedly inflated his clients' incomes and invented deductions so they could receive larger refunds.

Thornton also filed a fraudulent personal return for himself in 2005.

"Tax fraud doesn't just cheat the government but steals money from millions of honest, hardworking Americans who pay their fair share," said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.